The present invention relates to the field of golf training devices.
The cocking and uncocking of the right arm is a substantial power source during golf club swinging, and the elbow bend of the right arm determines in large part how far the ball goes. In order to help the player improve his or her golf swing, various devices have been developed over the years which attempt to maintain the player""s arms and elbows in desired positions during swing of the golf club. In Staats U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,306 an elongated rod is mechanically coupled between the right forearm and the left upper arm or chest for providing a measure of proper forearm positioning during swing of the golf club. The use of this large elongated rod is awkward and the proper adjustment for the chip shot versus the drive shot is tedious. The elastic bands would have to contact multiple body portions of the golf students, as in the complex and cumbersome Manley U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,472,206 and 5,076,587, the latter having a complicated movable pivoting device attached at three places to the player""s anatomy. See also Latella, U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,968 wherein a large ball is held between the arms of the golfer while swinging the club.
A simpler and more compact device is taught in Brannen U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,152, wherein a plastic L-shaped member 10 is strapped to the upper arm of the player by a hook-and-loop type fastener. The elbow angle, as defined herein, is zero when the fore-arm is extended out straight with respect to the upper arm and away from the body of the player. When player elbow bending during his golf club swing tends to become greater than ninety degrees, to produce an undesired obtuse elbow bending angle, the L-shaped member is placed in compression to prevent the forearm from forming this undesired angle and hence maintains the elbow bending angle at 90 degrees. However, this device is limited to preventing elbow bending to form a angle of greater than ninety degrees between the forearm and upper player arm; it has no control of elbow bending angles that are less than ninety degrees, as is a desired goal of the present invention.
Ogden U.S. Pat. No. 5,395,117 also discloses an L-shaped member which is basically for maintaining the ninety degree elbow bend during the club swing. However, there is a suggestion of varying this angle by folding the arm to the desired angle and shifting the position of the device and then affixing the L-shaped member to the upper arm to attempt to provide control of a lesser elbow angle of less than ninety degrees. In the case of xe2x80x9cVelcroxe2x80x9d hook and eye type fasteners, or any other fasteners, removing and reattaching the Velcro straps for different types of upcoming shots would be a time consuming nuisance, and furthermore will result in inaccurate shifted placement of the L-shaped member on the upper arm, in tun producing inaccurate elbow angle control.
Another detrimental player habit which would be desirable to control during swing of the golf club is xe2x80x9cchicken wingingxe2x80x9d whereby during swing of the club, the player""s elbows extend or xe2x80x9cflyxe2x80x9d outwardly to an undesired extent, away from the player""s body, and hence her arms are not maintained equidistant from each other, as is desired for good form.
The aforesaid goals and benefits are met by providing a golf swing elbow angle control device that is relatively simple, inexpensive to manufacture, and yet provides good elbow angle control for various types of golf shots, e.g. ninety degrees for drives, 45 degrees for iron drives and lesser angles typically fifteen degrees for chip shots. Importantly, the device is readily adjustable, providing easy and rapid changes in its elbow angle control function for each type of upcoming shot. Customized fiducial settings of the device for various types of shots are readily established for the players having different forearm and elbow sizes and shapes. This results in quick and accurate elbow angle control settings. Furthermore, the upper arm mounted elbow angle control device, at the same time, has the dual function of a convenient anchor for an elastic belt extending 180 degrees around the opposite upper arm of the player, keeping the arms together to provide, at the same time, a simple and easy way to prevent the aforesaid xe2x80x9cchicken winging,xe2x80x9d which is detrimental to good golf swing form.